Vertically sliding door mounted in horizontally pivoted frame

ABSTRACT

AN ASSEMBLY OF ARTICULATED PANELS IS SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN TRACKS ON A DOOR FRAME WHICH INTERCONNECT WITH OVERHEAD TRACKS IN AN ENCLOSURE, THE DOOR FRAME TRACKS BEING SEPARABLE FROM THE OVERHEAD TRACKS AND THE FRAME BEING HINGED IN A DOORWAY FOR HORIZONTAL OPENING OF THE FRAME WHEN THE PANELS ARE CLOSED. LATCH MEANS IS PROVIDED WHICH PREVENT OPENING MOVEMENT OF THE FRAME EXCEPT WHEN THE PANELS ARE COMPLETELY CLOSED.   D R A W I N G

United States Patent Court [54] VERTICALLY SLIDING DOOR MOUNT- ED INHORIZONTALLY PIVOTED FRAME [72] Inventor: Charles T. Court, P.O. Box1921,

Texarkana, Tex. 75501 Dec. 11, 1970 I [22] Filed:

[21] Appl. No.:97,21l

[52] U.S. Cl Toll/125 291226/5 l [5,1] Int. Cl ..E05d 15/22 [58] FieldofSearch ..160/40, 201, 194, 125;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 544,15 3 1970 fiiififllsti laaaaa111. 3,104319 31129; Kappen. ..160l20l X 22. .15]; 4 1Lafi1 52 I [151 3,693,693 3 EBLZEZL9ZZ 6/1943 Black ..l60/l95 9/1964Adler. ..160/20lX abaama PATENTS 0k APPLiCATlOhiS 614,566 2/1961 Canada..l60/209 Primary Examiner-J. Karl Bell Attorney-A. Yates Dowell; A.Yates Dowell, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT An assembly of articulated panels is slidably mounted intracks on a door frame which interconnect with overhead tracks in anenclosure, the door frame tracks being separable from the overheadtracks and the frame being hinged in a doorway for horizontal opening ofthe frame when the panels are I closed. Latch means is provided whichprevent opening movement of the frame except when the panels arecompletely closed.

3 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDsEm I972 SHEEI 1 BF 3 FIG. 2

M. 7 CHARLES T. COURT 1N VENTOR mmninsms m2 3.691693 SHEET 2 BF 3INVENTOR CHARLES T. COURT P'A'TENIED E I 1 I 3.693.693

' SHEET 3 BF 3 FIG. 5

V 7' INVENTOR CHARLES T. COURT VERTICALLY SLIDING DOOR MOUNTED INHORIZONTALLY PIVOTED FRAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION tages includingthat cargo may become displaced and engage the door making it difficultor impossible o. ra the same-j teti ,thgqqorsh g covered with ice andsnow, they cannot be raised when they reach their destination except bythawing, which frequently results in substantial delays.

On present day roll-up doors, when difficulty is encountered in raisingthem due to conditions such as those mentioned, the practice is toemploy a pry bar or a fork lift truck to raise the door. Not only aresuch procedures time consuming and costly, but are likely to misalignand damage the door, requiring repairs before the vehicle can be used.

An inherent disadvantage accompanying roll-up doors is that due to thenecessity for the roller mounting at the sides, the width of the doorwayis less than that of the enclosure. In some situations this may prevent,or cause difficulty in, the hauling of merchandise which the vehiclewould otherwise be able to accommodate.

A further disadvantage of ordinary roll-up doors is that these areusually shipped to the equipment manufacturer only partially assembledand require substantial time to complete the assembly and install.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a two-way doorassembly for an enclosure such as a truck body and includes a door frameswingably connected along one side of the opening to the enclosure, andsuch door frame is provided with a plurality of hinged panels carried'within tracks on the door frame. The tracks on the door frame are inalignment with tracks within the enclosure so that when thedoor;frarnegis. closed the Eneis' can be moved upwardly from a generallyOBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the inventionto provide a door and door frame assembly in which the door includes aplurality of hingedly connected panels adapted for sliding roll-upoperation or the slidable roll-up door which can be operated outwardlyon hinges in order to permit the door to be opened when the roll-up dooris jammed, and to permit the full use of the width and height of theenclosure.

A further object is the provision of a door for slidable or hingedoperation which is relatively simple to install and adapted for use onany standard vehicle frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective of one end ofa truck illustrating a two-way door fully closed in full lines, and thedoor fully swung open in phantom lines.

F IG. 2 is a perspective similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the door panelspartially raised.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1illustrating the track on which the door panels operate.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3 andillustrates the relationship between the fixed frame of the vehicle andthe swinging frame of the door, as well as the relationship between theswinging frame and the roll-up door panels.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detailed section of the door frame safety lock inlocked position.

FIG. 6 is a section similar to FIG. 5 with the door panels in fullylowered position and with the safety lock unlatched.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of FIG. 5 illustrating the lowermostdoor panel abutting the safety lock just prior to moving the same tounlatching position.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged section on the line 8-8 of FIG. 1 illustrating apanel joint and one of the roller hinge members.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of one of the roller I supporting hingemembers.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the frame lockmechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With further reference to thedrawings, the invention is illustrated as applied to a vehicle body ortrailer T having top and bottom walls W1 and W2 and left and right sidewalls W3 and Wfi yvhi h balance spring is mounted. Such spring isconnected to a reel 17 with lines 18 extending therefrom.

In order to seal the frame against leakage between it and the sides ofthe vehicle, a gasket 20 is provided having a portion 21 which engagesthe corner of the fragrq yvhen it is closed and the inside wall of theenclosure as indicated in FIG. 4. The gasket 20 also is closed on thehinges these two rounded portions may engage and cooperate if necessaryto align the door.

In order to hold the frame in closed position, a latching means 40 isprovided at the right side which includes a vertical bar 41 havinghorizontal extensions 42 at its ends, the bar mounted by loops 43 on theframe which permits shifting of the bar so that its outer ends may belocked to engage under flanges or lips 45 mounted on the frame of theen-,

closure.

In order to mount the slidable door on the frame, left and right rollertrackways 50 having inwardly inclined upper portions 51 are mounted bybrackets 52 which are connected to the left and right frame members 11and 12.

The slidable door includes a plurality of interconnected panels 60. Thepanels are connected together by hinge members 61 which may be of thetype indicated in FIG. 9 having leaves 62 and 63 connected to adjacentpanels and to each other by a hinge pin 64. As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 8and}, each of the hinges 61 adjacent to the ends of the panels 60,includes a pair of upstanding tangs 65 terminating in bearings 66 inwhich a shaft 67 is rotatably mounted.

A roller 68 is mounted on one end of the shaft 67 and is held in spacedrelation to the bearings 66 by a spacer 69. The rollers 68 are receivedwithin the trackways 50 and are adapted to guide the door whent gsdqotnee le. mit ati 2m Mounted within the enclosure arehorizontallyextending channel track members 80 having downwardlyinclined end portions 81 which, when the door is in closed position, arealigned with the inwardly inclined end portions 51 of the track members50 on the door frame. In order to facilitate alignment of these endportions when the door is being closed on its hinges, a bracket 84 isprovided having a lower guide plate 85 and an upper guide plate 86 witha diverging lip 87 which guides the portion 51 of the track intoposition.

When the panels are in completely closed position, as indicated in FIG.1, they may be held by latch means 90 which includes a handle portion 91and a locking portion 92 mounted on pivot 93 and which engages a keeper94 in the sill of the frame.

A handle 96 is provided on the lower panel to assist in raising andlowering the panels and a handle 97 is provided on the right frame toassist in opening and closing the door on the hinges.

JLEJEEEFQ?! thatn effort hqglibs madamopen the door on the hinges unlessthe panels are in the completely closed position, otherwise damage tothe trackway and the panels is likely to occur. In order to preventinadvertent movement of the frame about the hinge when the panels arenot completely closed, an automatic safety interlock is provided asindicated in FIGS. 57. The interlock has an operating member or bellcrank lever 100 which has an arm with a roller 101 that extends abovethe jamb l4 and is positioned for engagement by the lowermost panel whenthe latter is closed against the jamb. The lever has a pivot 102 and anoperating leg 103. The leg 103 engages an abutment 104 mounted on a rod105 which is slidable in apertures in spaced blocks 106, 107 in the jamband engageable with an aperture in block 108 in the side of the vehicle.Spring 110 is coiled about the shaft intermediate the blocks 106 and 104and urges the shaft 105 towards closed position as indicated in FIG. 5.When the slidable door is in raised position, therefore, the lock willbe in the position of FIG. 5 thereby preventing any movement of theframe about the hinges 30. When the slidable door is closed, however,engagement of the lowermost panel moves the lever 100 to the position ofFIG. 6 in which leg 103 shifts the shaft to the left in order to retractit from the block 108 in the vehicle frame, thereby freeing the frame.

In the operation of the device, when the trailer is in use, thearticulated panels 60 are locked to the frame 10 by the latch means andthe frame 10 is locked to the side wall W4 by the latch mechanism 40.

When it is desired to open the rear door of the trailer by raising thearticulated panels 60, the latch mechanism 90 is operated to release thelocking portion 92 from the keeper 94 after which an upward force can beapplied to the handle 96 so that the rollers 68 will move upwardlywithin the tracks 50 and .lhl'fl il i imttu 51 and 81 -QIJLQJBE.

generally horizontal track 80 within the truck body.

As soon as the articulated panels are moved upwardly a short distance,the spring 110 will cause the rod 105 to be extended into the orificewithin the block 1.08-59 thatthsttamssa notb m veden th articulatedpanels are fully raised, the space defined by the frame 10 will be openso that the cargo can be placed in or removed from the trailer. Afterthe loading or unloading has been completed, the articulated panels aremoved downwardly through the tracks toward closed position. As thepanels approach the sill 14, the lowermost panel will engage the roller101 and pivot the bell crank lever about the pivot 102 and cause the rodto be retracted from the block 108. Thereafter the latch mechanism 0 s,er t dlolqqk .t e a q hs fram In the event that a larger opening isrequired, or if the cargo has shifted so that portions of the cargo arein engagement with the articulated panels and prevent ready movementthereof, the latch mechanism 40 can be operated to unlock the frame fromthe wall structure of the trailer, after which the frame with thearticulated panels thereon can be swung about the hinge pins 26 throughapproximately 270 of rotation until the door is substantially abuttingthe side of the trailer, as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 1. After theloading or unloading has been completed, the door is swung to closedposition and the latch mechanism i p r 7 9 995.!!!2.@9r.. 2!929l. lclaim:

1. A two-way door assembly for mounting on wall structure defining anenclosure with an opening therein, said assembly comprising a frame,hinge means mounting said frame on said wall structure adjacent to theopening, first track means having a lower portion mounted generallyvertically on opposite sides of said frame, the upper portion of saidfirst track means being disposed out of the plane of said lower portion,second track means mounted generally horizontally on said wall structurein alignment with the upper portion of said first track means, aplurality of articulated panels hingedly connected together, rollermeans carried by said panels and engageable with said first and secondtrack means, first lock means for locking said panels to said frame,second lock means for locking said frame to said wall structure, thirdlock means operable by said panels for automatically locking said frameto said wall structure when the panels are in a raised position and forunlocking said frame from said wall structure when the panels are in aloweredposition, and means for sealing said panels to said frame whensaid panels are in a lowered position, whereby said door frame can swingabout said hinge means hen. Said s nd nt h r 9 5.lEqilllifliElfisb andsaid panels can be moved along said track means when the first lockmeans is released.

2. In a two-way door assembly for mounting on wall structure defining anenclosure with an opening therein, said door assembly including a framehingedly mounted on said wall structure adjacent to the opening, firsttrack means carried by said frame, second track means located withinsaid enclosure, a plurality of articulated panels cam'ed by said firsttrack means and which can be selectively moved to said second trackmeans when said tracks are adjacent to each other; the improvementcomprising lock means carried by said frame to prevent swinging movementof said frame about its hinges when said articulated panels are raised,said lock means comprising latch means slidably carried by said frame,

means urging said latch means outwardly of said frame and into lockingengagement with said wall structure, operating means engageable by saidpanels for retracting said latch means out of engagement with said wallstructure when said panels are entirely within said first track means.

3. The structure of claim 2 in which said operating means includes levermeans swingably mounted on

